[johnemac]

Thanks larkhost. I’ll use the download.

For InstaUp2Date I am using the version that comes with 1.4b3 of instadmg. The version string of the InstaUp2Date script is 0.4b.

The instructions for InstaUp2Date state that they are slightly out of date. Perhaps I need to do more prep to get it to work?

[johnemac]

The install process doesn’t take that long but it’s the one thing in my workflow that is stable. I don’t usually change my install media or install options. After the OS install is done there is a perfectly good r/w disk image. It makes sense to save a copy and then reuse it.

The thing that changes the most are the Apple updates. I was hoping to run Software Update on the disk image just to get a list of what needs to be upgraded. I tried mounting a .dmg of 10.5.1 and linking it’s /Library/Receipts folder to the booted volumes /Library/Receipts but that doesn’t work. I also tried copying the whole Receipts folder over but that didn’t work either. Currently I am restoring the image, booting it and then running Software Update. If software update finds something I download it and re-image. It would be nice to get the name of the update without having to run ASR.

[johnemac]

I put anything from Apple in the Apple Updates folder. The first one used to be iLife and the second one was iWork. I’ve changed my setup recently to install iLife from the second grey install disk. But I didn’t have any trouble when it was folder 01 in the Apple Updates folder.

I would then boot from the InstaDMG disk I had made and run Software Update. I’d made note of the order that the updates installed in using Console–>Software Update and Console–>Installer. Then I recreated the order in my Apple Updates folder. I ended up with about 25 updates in that folder but the image always booted and didn’t need updating!

There was a gotcha with iLife. There is a post here about fixing the iLife Support updater
<https://www.afp548.com/forum/viewtopic.php?forum=45&showtopic=20102&highlight=iLifeMediaBrowser>

When 10.5.3 comes out I will repeat the whole process.

[johnemac]

Thanks for the handler. I found that I had to remove XcodeTools.mpkg from the path in order for it to install the tools.

Was
if [ -d /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Install\ Disc\ 2/Xcode\ Tools/XcodeTools.mpkg ]

Changed to
if [ -d /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Install\ Disc\ 2/Xcode\ Tools/ ]

[johnemac]

Some good news. I’m able to run InstaDMG on the MacBook Air disks from a Mac Mini. This allows me to skip about a dozen Apple Updates I had to apply when using the retail disk. I am also able to boot from the build on a MacBook. I’ll take the build around and try to boot it on a variety of systems to see how it performs.

[johnemac]

Is there any hardware specific configurations on the gray restore disks? You mention they only build on the machine they ship with. Have you had any luck restoring the build to different hardware?

Do you see any issue with using the restore disks that came with the MacBook Air on a Mac Pro? It would be great to be able to use the MacBook Air disks since they have 10.5.2 on them and all of the iLife apps. But that wouldn’t work, would it?

[johnemac]

Many questions.

I’m not sure I see the point of moving the hash file. Why do you need to create the “PhoneyPassword” if you are changing the GUID and the moving in a hash file? And where are these hash files coming from, another system?

And just putting in a .plist and a hash file wouldn’t take care of group membership would it? It seems that the group .plist needs to be altered as well. Or use dscl to enter the record?

/usr/bin/dscl . -create Users/instadmg
/usr/bin/dscl . -create Users/instadmg UserShell /bin/bash
/usr/bin/dscl . -create Users/instadmg RealName “Instadmg Admin”
/usr/bin/dscl . -create Users/instadmg UniqueID 1024
/usr/bin/dscl . -create Users/instadmg PrimaryGroupID 20
/usr/bin/dscl . -create Users/instadmg NFSHomeDirectory /Users/instadmg
/usr/bin/dscl . -passwd Users/instadmg “password”
/usr/bin/dscl . -append /Groups/admin GroupMembership instadmg
/usr/bin/dscl . -append /Groups/staff GroupMembership instadmg

[johnemac]

Thanks for the reply Anders and the clever script to install a small system.

Could I ask you how you generated the xml file? It doesn’t look anything like what I got using the -showChoicesXML flag in installer. I assume that the xml file will exclude everything in the list?

[johnemac]

In the same boat. I can generate an xml file with showChoicesXML
installer -pkg OSInstall.mpkg -target /Volumes/MyVolume/ -showChoicesXML > ~/Desktop/mychoices.xml

I’m confused as to how to actually disable something in the XML file. There are choiceIsEnabled and choiceIsSelected. I tried changing choiceIsEnabled to “False” and choiceIsSelected to “0.” When I read the file back in with
installer -pkg OSInstall.mpkg -showChoicesAfterApplyingChangesXML mychoices.xml

I got the error:
installer: choices file ‘mychoices.xml’ either could not be found or was malformed.

As a work around I am installing individual packages. I can do this with installer but haven’t tried to change the instaDMG script yet.
installer -pkg BaseSystem.pkg -tgt /Volumes/MyVolume/

I am also running the OSinstall.pkg because it contains the postinstall scripts. As far as I know OSInstall.pkg doesn’t contain any files but will run the sethidden program and whatever else is in the postinstall_actions folder.

I find that I have to run a different bless after this install
sudo bless -verbose -folder “/Volumes/VolumeName/System/Library/CoreServices” -bootinfo -bootefi

By the way dealing with packages in Leopard is not as easy as it was. I read this post [url]http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20071026083746346[/url] to find out how to look at the packages since “show package contents” is no longer available. Using xar and Flat Package Editor and Pacifist are the workarounds.

Getting showChoicesXML to work on OSInstall.mpkg would be better.

[johnemac]

I think this post [url]https://www.afp548.com/article.php?story=2007081618473794[/url] may be the answer.

[johnemac]

Thanks for the reply.

Only “Use UNC path from Active Directory to derive network home location.” is checked.
I have tried AFP and USB.
The path is correct and works when tested from a Windows machine. I also get SSO when logged in as an AD user on a Mac and I connect to the share where the home directories are.
I went over my setup with a fine tooth comb with John Christophersen, who is an Apple Trainer. He generously set up a system to mirror the one I was trying to get work. Everything in the setup was the same. The only difference I could put my finger on was that when he read his AD user with dscl there was a homeDirectory attribute properly pointing to his home on Mac OS Server. My read did not have that attribute.

[johnemac]

Thanks for the reply.

[list]Only “Use UNC path from Active Directory to derive network home location.” is checked.
I have tried AFP and USB.
The path is correct and works when tested from a Windows machine. I also get SSO when logged in as an AD user on a Mac and I connect to the share where the home directories are.
I went over my setup with a fine tooth comb with John Christophersen, who is an Apple Trainer. He generously set up a system to mirror the one I was trying to get work. Everything in the setup was the same. The only difference I could put my finger on was that when he read his AD user with dscl there was a homeDirectory attribute properly pointing to his home on Mac OS Server. My read did not have that attribute. [/list]

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